It’s not your imagination, airline restrooms are getting smaller

Originally published July 12, 2018 at 6:58 pm
Updated July 12, 2018 at 7:10 pm

A Rockwell Collins lavatory in a Boeing 737. (Rockwell Collins)

As labor costs rise and fuel prices surge, airlines are taking advantage of robust travel demand to squeeze as many passengers as possible into planes. The latest method is to retrofit old aircraft and order new ones with svelte lavatories that allow for an extra row of seats.

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If the restroom on your next flight seems a bit snug, don’t assume you’ve picked up a few pounds. U.S. airlines increasingly are putting smaller lavatories on their planes — and the economics of the decision means they’re probably here to stay.

As labor costs rise and fuel prices surge, airlines are taking advantage of travel demand to squeeze in as many passengers as possible. Knee-bashing reductions to legroom and elbow-crunching cuts to seat size are well-known tactics. The latest is to retrofit old aircraft and order new ones with svelte lavatories that allow for an extra row of seats.

Airlines say the new restrooms are just a few inches smaller than what passengers are used to. But it’s not like the bathrooms were that big to begin with, and the tighter fit is sparking complaints from pilots and flight attendants and griping from travelers. Consultant Samuel Engel said taking his 4-year-old son to the restroom during a recent four-hour flight was like a yoga exercise.

“We’re both compact people, but I still had to basically straddle him to be able to fit in the lav together,” said Engel, who leads the aviation group at consulting firm ICF. “The sink is so tiny that we did a sort of four-handed ballet to wash each of our hands in turn, splashing water all over in the process.”

American Airlines is using a smaller lavatory supplied by Airbus on new A321neos and remodeled older A321s to squeeze in more seats. The airline also is putting in diminutive restrooms made by Rockwell Collins on more than 300 Boeing 737 aircraft.

United Continental has the Rockwell lavatories on about 10 percent of its 737 fleet — almost 35 planes — and will use them on at least 155 more 737 MAX jets. Delta Air Lines has used the washrooms since 2014. JetBlue Airways, meanwhile, is outfitting some of its fleet with a small lavatory made by Safran’s Zodiac Aerospace.

Gary Weissel, managing director of Tronos Aviation Consulting, estimated that American could generate about $400,000 a year for each seat it adds to a plane, based on average fares and typical aircraft usage.

The airline told investors last fall that adding seats to its Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A321 jets would bring in $500 million a year. JetBlue has estimated that boosting capacity on its A320s by 12 seats to 162 will increase annual revenue by about $100 million.

“Even with passenger complaints on these lavs, I don’t see airlines pulling them out,” Weissel said. “The revenue generated from being able to get an additional row of seats in there is too great.”

At shoulder height, the width of Rockwell’s Advanced Spacewall restroom — made by the company’s B/E Aerospace unit — is about the same as in older economy-class restrooms. The space savings comes around sink level, as the wall curves in to allow a row of three seats to be tucked under the bend.

The lavatories are about 22.4 inches across at a passenger’s chest level when seated, American said. That’s 3.1 inches narrower than the previous models.

Airlines “have decided the lavatory doesn’t matter that much” as they try to squeeze in more seats, said Jami Counter, vice president of flights at the TripAdvisor and SeatGuru.com air-travel sites. “I think they might have gone a bit too far. They’re taking it off of what already was a very skinny configuration.”

Rockwell said that as trends in travel and fares change, it offers various restrooms to help carriers adapt.

Boeing offers lavatories with added interior space as well as ones that allow carriers to increase room in the cabin. “Our goal is to provide the most flexibility to our airline customers to meet their individual business needs,” spokesman Doug Alder said by email.